Delta Air Lines has launched a unique pilot training facility in Salt Lake City. Let’s take a look at what we know about this new facility so far.
Delta Air Lines’ New Pilot Program
According to KSL.com, with the opening of its $50-million flight operations training facility in Salt Lake City, Delta Air Lines made history.
The facility has four flight simulation bays, an A350 and A320 simulator, and a B737 simulator that will be added in the spring. The Salt Lake City flight simulators are the first Delta has ever had in a training center outside of its Atlanta headquarters.
“I’ve been with Delta for 17 years. For 17 years, I’ve been going to Atlanta to do all simulator training,” said Brian Rees, Delta’s chief pilot in Salt Lake City, to the outlet. “This will be huge for not only the pilots of Salt Lake, but we have a base in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Minneapolis that are close, that will have those pilots come in here to train, as well.”
Along with the four simulation bays, the facility, which is almost 50,000 square feet in size, has seven classrooms for Delta Air Lines stakeholders to utilize, 10 briefing rooms, and four procedure training rooms for qualification training. With extension space on site for six more flight simulators and four more classrooms, there is also plenty of room for future growth.
“We have 5,000 employees here in the region, and when you talk about our pilots, we have the very best pilots,” said Ed Bastian, CEO at Delta, to the outlet. “We want to make sure we have the very best tools and technology and capability at their fingertips here. But all the other employees and families that we have here, it’s a statement to them, as well, in terms of seeing this great facility go up.”
Stowaway Issues
Despite this latest facility, Delta Air Lines recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons when a stowaway snuck onto a flight to France.
Authorities confirmed that on Nov. 26, a stowaway entered a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Paris without a boarding card.
The outlet claims that the woman got on Delta Flight No. 264, which was its route to Paris from John F. Kennedy International Airport via Charles de Gaulle Airport. She was discovered while the plane was in midair and captured in Paris.
A source with knowledge of the situation said that a flight attendant discovered the suspected stowaway, who made frequent and prolonged excursions to the Boeing 767-400ER’s numerous restrooms during the almost-full but not sold-out flight. When outfitted for the airline, the 767-400, one of the largest wide-body aircraft in Delta Air Lines’ fleet, can carry 238 passengers.
“We’re just waiting for the police to come on board, they may be here now, and they’ve directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane,” the pilot said after the plane landed.
A Transportation Security Administration source told CBS News that the woman managed to evade the ID and document check portion of the TSA process and then passed through a body scanner at a JFK Airport checkpoint that was outfitted with cutting-edge imaging technology. According to the source, her luggage was also inspected for illegal items before she reached the gate and slipped onboard the Delta Air Lines flight.
A TSA official confirmed that “an individual without a boarding pass was physically screened without any prohibited items. The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded the aircraft.”
